Many who complain of "writer's block," or who don't think they have enough ideas to write about, have found the Freewriting method excellent for dissolving such problems. In fact, professional writers use this method as their basic way of beginning a project or assignment.
Freewriting is a pre-writing technique in which a person writes continuously for a set period of time without regard to spelling, grammar, or logic. It produces raw material that is used as building blocks or jigsaw puzzle pieces for finished work. It helps writers overcome blocks of apathy and self-criticism in order to get a piece of writing underway and crate a first draft.
Natalie Goldberg's famous and widely used rules for freewriting:
Give yourself a time limit. Write for one minute, or ten or twenty, and then stop.
Keep your hand moving until the time is up. Do not pause to think, to stare into space or to read what you've written. Write quickly, but not in a hurry. Inf no ideas come, just write "What's next? What's next? What's next?" repeatedly until ideas emerge.
Pay no attention to grammar, spelling, punctuation, neatness, or style. Nobody else needs to read what you produce here. The correctness and quality of what you write do not matter; the act of writing does.
If you get off the topic or run out of ideas, keep writing anyway. If necessary, write nonsense or whatever comes into your head, or simply scribble: anything to keep the hand moving. You can write: "What's next? What's next? What's next?" until the ideas come.
If you feel bored or uncomfortable as you're writing, ask yourself what's bothering you and write about that.
When the time is up, look over what you've written, and mark passages that contain ideas or phrases that might be worth keeping or elaborating on in a subsequent freewriting session.
In fact, professional writers use this method as their basic way of beginning a project or assignment.
Freewriting is a pre-writing technique in which a person writes continuously for a set period of time without regard to spelling, grammar, or logic. It produces raw material that is used as building blocks or jigsaw puzzle pieces for finished work. It helps writers overcome blocks of apathy and self-criticism in order to get a piece of writing underway and crate a first draft.
Natalie Goldberg's famous and widely used rules for freewriting: